


Schedule Adherence

by tangiblewhimsy



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-24
Updated: 2012-07-24
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangiblewhimsy/pseuds/tangiblewhimsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakurai Sho has a very nice, easily scheduled life until someone moves into the apartment across the hall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Schedule Adherence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [toinkydoink@LJ](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=toinkydoink%40LJ).



> For je_holiday exchange at LJ

6:15 AM

 

Sho doesn't like to think his life is boring. He prefers to think of it as comfortable. It wasn't as though he never did _anything_ , it just happened to be that he had a schedule and he liked it.

On the days he worked he would set an alarm early enough that he could turn it off and sleep for another fifteen minutes. Most people would think it an odd practice, waking himself up earlier than he needed to just to sleep, but it secretly made Sho feel like he was being lazy an indulgent. It was a good feeling most days.

Drowsily, he would make his way to the kitchen (still in his sleep pants) to turn on his coffee. He always thought about getting the type of coffee pot that he could program the night before to have coffee ready by the time he was awake, but he also knew that such a device would simply encourage him to sleep in even more.

There was also the fact that Sho liked his morning ritual. Once the coffee started brewing it was off to shower. He used the time to clear his head, get himself mentally prepared for the day. A list of things that needed to be done would drift into and out of his head as he hummed some random tune and scrubbed himself with some fruity soap sample he stole from some hotel or another on a business trip. He owned actual soap, but he liked the weird shapes and scents that came from the stolen soaps. They gave him variety without much effort.

Shower completed, he would emerge for his first cup of coffee. The mug would follow him back into the bedroom where he would get mostly dressed, leaving off the final touches of a tie, jacket or anything that would wrinkle. Then it would be back to the kitchen for toast and the newspaper.

Sho woke up a least two hours before he had to leave the house every morning. Not because that was how long it took him to get ready, but because everything was a rush to get to that point where he had food, coffee and a paper at his kitchen table. It was quiet, peaceful, and...remarkably dull. But it made him happy.

 

7:00 AM

 

Sho was running late. For some reason his alarm simply hadn't gone off. Sho wasn't sure how or why, he was _certain_ he'd set it the night before. And while he would have liked to investigate the mystery of the Silent Alarm Clock, he just didn't have the time.

Foregoing a shower, he jumped into clothing as quickly as was humanly possible. He was fairly certain he'd missed a button on his shirt, but he'd fix it on the train. There was no fresh coffee, but in a fit of desperation Sho microwaved what was left in a mug from the previous night. It was disgusting, but did the trick to wake him up (at least until he got to the office and got another cup).

Grabbing his keys and the newspaper to read on his way out the door, Sho was visually verifying that he had all of his items as he stepped out the door. At which point he nearly died.

The narrow walkway outside his apartment was usually empty because Sho, for at least the past year, had been the only person living on the second floor. He hadn't seen or heard any movers, hadn't been informed by his landlord that someone new was going to be moving in. As such, he was completely unprepared for the death trap that awaited him just outside the door in the form of a bicycle.

Sho swore he heard the sound of his pants ripping, even over his own pained shriek as his shin slammed into the body of the bike, only to be raked by the teeth of a pedal. Adding insult to injury, Sho's defensive flailing only resulted in a sudden tumble to the concrete floor, the aluminum instrument of doom lunging upon him to stab at his ribs with a handlebar.

"MOTHER _FUCK_!" Sho raged, finally managing to tear himself out of the evil contraption's hold.

The bicycle was lucky that all Sho had time to do was throw it against the neighboring wall. He'd find time to seek vengeance later, but for the time being he had to get up an limp as fast as humanly possible to the train station. All the way he fumed about who would possibly leave their bike right in front of someone's door! How completely discourteous. He'd have to have a talk with whoever lived next door when he got home later.

 

7:43 AM

 

Matsumoto Jun.

That was the name of the guy who had moved in. Sho knew it, because that's what had been signed at the bottom of the note taped to his door. It was short and simple. It also reminded Sho of the murderous rage he'd felt earlier in the morning.

>   
>  _Please do not touch my belongings._   
> 

>   
>  _Sincerely,  
>  Matsumoto Jun_   
> 

No apology. No sign of a guilty conscience whatsoever. Somehow, _Sho_ (with his ruined slacks and his bruised body) was in the wrong. Scowling at his door, Sho snatched the note from it. There was no bicycle in sight, which meant that Matsumoto Jun was either not home, or had learned not to keep his bike on the porch. Either way, Sho was too tired to deal with neighborly confrontation tonight.

If he was being honest with himself, he was too tired to deal with neighborly confrontation ever. He _had_ lost his temper, after all. It had been wrong of him to treat someone else's property that way. Retrospectively, Sho even felt bad.

With a sigh, Sho resolved to apologize the following morning as he lay down to sleep (forgetting again to set his alarm).

 

9:22 AM

 

Over the period of several days, Sho flip-flopped on whether or not he wanted to properly meet his new neighbor or murder the man in his sleep.

It turned out they lived completely different schedules, which made any attempt at reconciliation over the initial event impossible. Every time Sho tried to go over he found the bike missing and no one home. Whenever Matsumoto _was_ home, it was only as Sho was on his way out the door (and typically without time to spare for a chat).

In the meantime, the placement of the bicycle was becoming a recurring issue. While Sho had not had another near-death experience since the first, he was forced to be constantly vigilant about the placement of the item. The ledge that served as a walkway between their apartments was honestly not a wide one and skirting around a bicycle was delicate and sometimes annoying if for no other reason that it could have been taken _inside_.

If Sho ever did move it, just to a safer location or closer to Matsumoto's door, he would inevitably come home to another note tacked on his door. It would be short and abrupt and usually another instruction about how Sho shouldn't touch things that don't belong to him.

One day, in a petulant fit, Sho decided to leave a note of his own on his neighbor's door.

He had meant for it to be concise and biting, mimicking the style of those left on his door. But as he began to write, Sho let flow all of the complaints and the pent-up frustrations. How the sound of the bicycle being forced up and down the stairs at all hours of the morning had been interrupting his sleep, how occasionally strange smells would come from the apartment and make the hallway unbreathable, and how on one occasion Sho had even gotten some of Matsumoto's mail by mistake and had returned it without so much as an introduction or a thank you.

When all was said and done, Sho was left with a letter four pages long. It was far too long to post on the door and now that he'd gotten it all out Sho knew that if he sent it this was the type of things that started feuds. For as annoyed as he could get with all of the little things, he felt better for having written the letter. He didn't really have to send it, because then he would be going out of his way to make someone else feel bad.

Tearing it up, Sho chucked the letter pieces in the recycling bin and went to bed.

 

11:13 AM

 

The bike was missing.

Not just gone for the day, as it tended to be when Matsumoto was out and using it. Someone had actually stolen it from their ledge and just walked away with it. Sho knew, because apparently his neighbor thought he was the culprit.

"I don't know where your bike is," Sho repeated with a frustrated sigh, leaning against his door. The interrogation had been going on for nearly ten minutes and he didn't know what else he was supposed to be saying.

"Don't give me that!" his young neighbor said dangerously. Sho didn't want to admit it, but the guy was actually frightening when angry, especially for being so slight of build. "You move it around all of the time, who's to say you didn't just toss it in the dumpster?"

"Did you go _check_ the dumpster?" Sho asked, tired of being accused. "If you were really concerned about the thing being stolen, you wouldn't have left it out all of the time."

"Oh, so it's _my_ fault someone who doesn't respect other peoples' property decided to come over to _my_ apartment and steal _my_ bike?" Matsumoto fumed, red spreading intensely through his face.

"You know what?" Sho said, standing up and squaring his shoulders, "Fuck off. I don't have to stand here and be accused of being a thief because you can't take care of _your_ belongings."

Shutting the door with a slam, Sho figured that was the end of it. Until he heard something strike his door before Matsumoto was swearing colorfully. Sho hoped it meant he'd broken his hand on the door.

 

12:02 PM

 

Sho was too kind for his own good.

As much as he had tried to stay mad at Matsumoto, he really couldn't when he found out that the bike was honestly his only form of transportation. Signs started to go up with photos of it around the apartments like a lost dog and while Sho knew it wasn't his responsibility he still wanted to help. Not everyone could really afford to take the train all of the time everywhere.

Because of this, he found himself going from door to door on his own day off with the flier that had been taped to his door. The apartment building was mostly full of families and he knew that while most of them were full of good children... Kids did stupid things. 

The boy who stole Matsumoto's bike was honestly no exception. He'd just wanted to ride it a little but had fallen down and warped a wheel in the accident. He'd been too afraid to put it back, so he'd hidden it in some bushes. Thanking the boy for his honesty, Sho took the bicycle and left before his mother could start tearing into him.

Lifting the bike up over his shoulders, Sho walked up the stairs to his apartment, but rather than entering his own he turned to Matsumoto's. Putting the bicycle down gently, Sho knocked on the door and waited. He could hear someone doing something in the kitchen, an activity that stopped when he'd knocked.

Matsumoto arrived at the door with his hair in a curly little ponytail on top of his head and wearing a house apron. Deep down, Sho would never be able to bring up that memory and not think it was cute.

 

2:30 PM

 

After that, things seemed more civil. Matsumoto reluctantly accepted that Sho wasn't actually a bad guy and that he had been a little harsh. Sho was annoyed for a while that the man never said he was sorry, but after being invited over for dinner a few times he began to learn that was just how Jun was.

Though they never talked about it, Jun stopped leaving his bike on the ledge as well. He claimed it was because he didn't want to risk having it stolen again, he didn't want to replace any more parts. But when Sho saw the inside of the man's apartment, how stuffed it was with books and papers due to his being a student... Sho started to understand why where wasn't really much room for a bike inside. 

And even though Jun denied it, Sho still thanked him for being considerate. Jun told him not to be an idiot and kicked him out of the apartment.

 

4:00 PM

 

Sho was starting to like spending time with Jun. He was incredibly well read and interested in so many things guys their age just tended not to care about. Jun loved The Beatles and Michael Jackson, and once Sho had managed to get a glimpse at his iPod playlist and even found Hannah Montana there.

Jun liked things neat and orderly, but only outside of his home. The guy's apartment tended to be a mess, but there was a coziness about it that Sho found charming. Especially when he'd come over and they'd have to sit squished together on the overstuffed loveseat because the kitchen table was consumed with old mail and paperwork.

It was hard to find times to catch Jun at home, though. Sho tried to be inconspicuous about his attempts, but his friends always told him he had the subtlety of a brick.

There would be nights when Sho would pick up two dinners from a combini and just...wait. He got nervous about lingering outside the apartments because it seemed like a weird, girlish thing to do. But his worry had him entering and leaving his apartment a billion times trying not to look like he'd been waiting. Jun arrived to stare at him as he was coming out of the house with two pairs of chopsticks held in his mouth. Sho felt like an awkward deer caught in the headlights and Jun...

The shock that had crossed the young man's sharp features softened. Jun ducked his head, letting his bangs hide his eyes as he dug around in his bag for his keys, opening his apartment and holding the door for Sho without a word.

8:00 PM

 

It had been almost a year since Matsumoto Jun had moved in across the way. Half of the time he wasn't around, working while going to school eating a lot of his schedule. Sho finally understood what that schedule was now, however, and he finally knew the places where it matched with his.

Sitting down at his breakfast table, Sho munched on a slice of toast as he read the financial section of the paper. There wasn't much interesting going on today, but he still liked to stay informed.

He only looked up as Jun shuffled behind him, the man's zombified mind only understanding the scent of freshly brewed coffee.

"Could you pour me another cup, please?" Sho asked, holding out his mug.

Jun obliged mechanically before pouring himself a mega mug and slumping down at the table and pulling the arts section of the paper to him to stare at until he could make sense of more than just the colorful pictures.

Smiling into the rim of his cup, Sho could admit that his life was maybe a little less boring but he still liked to think it was comfortable.


End file.
